The Memories Remember When
by Hitokimi
Summary: An aged and ailing Hermione spends time lost in dreams and memories. Recalling fondly her past and present while also remembering the two men in her life. The first love she lost, and the second love that found her. Rated T to be safe. HG/SS and HG/RW.
1. Memories

All normal disclaimers apply. I don't own, just barrow.

A small dribble that for the last month hasn't left me alone! It's haunted me at work, while eating and even while sleeping. Dam pushy muses I tell you. This story will be a sort of multi-chapter one-shot, and while it hasn't all been written down-yet, it is complete even if my muses finished it all out of order. And I could only wish I could remember the original title I had for this.. but alas it got lost somewhere between here and there.

And with that. On with the show!

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><p>The Memories Remember When<p>

It was the furrowing of silvered and copper eyebrows that signaled the first movements within the semi dark room. The small crease between the brows one of deep and puzzled thought as their owner tried to make sense of their current location.

Where was she? Why couldn't she recall? And then like a soft flutter of music or the flick of a candle it all came back to her.

The memory was still hazy, as if being recalled through a fog but the more she tried the clearer it became. Small things at first but with each new piece the puzzle started to make a picture. She'd been in her drawing room, the comforting weight of an old but lovely knit quilt draped over her legs chasing the last of the chill from her that not even the fire could banish as of late.

Following that came other bits as the memory drew ever more focused. She could recall now sitting in her old wingback chair, the ancient wood polished dark, its cushion long since broken in and it's deep green fabric faded out to a pale almost grey with age. Oh how they had all tried to make her get rid of that old chair, worn and broken in even long before she'd spent a life time in it herself by the chairs first owner.

But then, what else? That couldn't have been everything could it? The chair, the quilt, the comforting smell and heat of the fire place and a faint if odd thump of something. Oh, that's what it had been- she'd been reading and must have fallen asleep. The far off thump must have been the sound of her book landing on the floor.

She didn't feel the chair under her nor the quit above her, it could only mean she'd been found and put to bed. A faint smile pulled at her lips as she wondered which of her family had thought to check up on her, seen her asleep and without waking her put her to bed. She would have to ask in order to give a proper thank you in kisses.

Well now that she knew where she was, and guessed how she'd gotten there, there was only one way to prove it. Slowly and with much more effort then she'd have guessed at her eyes fluttered on the brink of opening before with a final push she managed to force them open. Great Circe she must have been more tired than she thought if it had taken that much effort to open her eyes.

But now that they were open she could clearly see that yes in fact she'd been moved to her room, her quilt folded and set lovingly across the foot of the bed. Glancing further around the dim room she could just make out the rest of the details. Her book cases weighted down with a life time of books collected, the dresser at the far end which held all of her most cherished memories locked forever in their frames. Pictures both moving and non, that spoke of a long life, and many happy and sad times.

Seeing them made her smile ever softer, they were the proof that she had lived and lived so very well. Friends past and present, children, grandchildren, and even the newest of the frames to grace her collection, that of her great-grandchildren.

And then moving on towards the small vanity and closet until a slight movement drew her attention to the just barley open window and the breeze that made the pale cream lacy curtains dance. The same window she never closed, no matter the weather it remained open that single tiny inch. The faint breeze that had set the curtains dancing also carried on it the sweet distance sounds of birds, and looking out past the glass she could see why.

The sky was still dark, the stars still winking their merry pale lights, but there just on the edge of the horizon she could already see it. That first hint of color, that shade of blue and purple that was both and neither as the sun strove to push back the dark and the night to once more flood the world with it's warmth and light.

Something about this however struck her as odd and wrong. Had she not just been sitting in her drawing room just this last night the heavy chill of winter and snow still pounding against the stone walls? Had Spring deiced to come early this year as it was wont to do every once in a great many years? Well that would explain the clear night and the bird song.

Bird song… and Spring. Another year was turning it seemed, good. As much as she loved the snow and such she loved the spring even more. Shifting to get comfortable once again she let her heavy eyes drift shut and let the sounds of the birds surround her. The breeze even now warming slightly as the morning progressed. If she concentrated hard enough she could almost make out the scent of new grass..and deep rich smell of dark loamy earth and something so faint and spicy….something deep green and forever.

Pine.

That was what that scent was. The smell of pine flooded her nose along with the earth and grass. She remembered that smell,_ He_ had always smelled of earth and herbs to her with just that faint trace of pine. And with that scent heavy in her nose, and the sweet soft tittering of the birds..she felt herself fall deeper.

She slept. She dreamt. And then she remembered.

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><p>AN: I don't normally make this habit, but just as a hint to the readers. The titles of each chapter, as well as the seasons and time of day will all play an important part of this story. Let's see how many figure out how shall we! And if at the end you can't figure it out-ask and I'll tell you.

Comments, Reviews and such are always welcome.


	2. Spring

Disclaimers: Still hasn't changed.

This chapter will go to Ljpjcp( guest) the first person to review. For demanding the next chapter in one breath, and then apologizing for in the next.  
>Thanks for the motivation to get the next chapter done!<p>

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><p>It had been the Spring of her Sixth year that she would always remember the best. Despite everything else that had been going on and the chaos that seemed to dog their steps like the very hounds of hell, she had found a single moment of peace.<p>

It had been the dancing of light over her face that had first brought her back to the realm of the wakeful and living. Brown eyes cracking open only to shut them just as quickly with a faint frown, and then turning into the comforting darkness of the robes beside her.

She could hear him…laughing at her in the low almost amused tone of his. That one that often told her she'd done something cute and adorable. Childish.

Huffing a little she'd let him laugh at her expense a little while longer, right now she was pleasantly lost in the wonderful scent of that waffled up on the air around her. Spring had come early this year, the ground bursting forth with smells of fresh grass, sun warmed earth, and little something sweet from the wild flowers in the fields and forest. Breathing in deep she felt herself smile at that little extra added smell of herbs, the pine coming from the black cloth she held to her face.

Hearing the soft sound of a book snapping closed she knew their time was drawing closed, she'd fallen asleep to him reading again. Giving one last sigh she peeked her eyes open once more and tentatively looked up at what had woken her in the first place.

The sun had moved since the last time she'd seen it, the early afternoon light brighter as the sun now sat above them, creating a dappled light through the canopy of the tree they had picked to read under. She'd never been sure just how old the old oak was, but she'd claimed it as hers from the very first moment she'd seen it in her first year, during her first trip to the lake. She'd been taken in by the many names she'd later found carved into its dark skin, a living history book of every child who'd found solace under its heavy branches.

It had been _His_ tree once, she'd found his name carved high up on the trunk. The spidery scrawl drawing her attention even as she added her own name right beside it. It had become _Her_ tree then, the most recent student to claim it…and then by some odd twist of magic or by the whim of fate it became _Their_ tree.

Their hidden little spot just off the path of the lake were the water lapped at the grassy muddy bank, the great oaks roots thick and twisted dipping deep into both earth and water creating the perfect single most hidden in plain sight spot.

She could feel his eyes on her, watching her as she took in the simple pleasure of the light dancing through the branches, and turning her head she felt herself smile. Those eyes. Those blacker then pitch eyes.

Oh how they peered out of that pale face normally so cold and now gazed at her with a warmth that nothing she could ever do or find would match. Oh how she laughed to herself every time she'd catch him glaring at some student, and how she envied those eyes so capable of reducing even the brashest of people into meek children.

She loved _those_ eyes.

She loved them even more as they met her own brown gaze and warmed even further until she could see the shift of that fire. He was thinking something…something maybe a little naughty. Thoughts that would have her skin open to the spring air, her body pressed into the cloak under her and into the earth by his weight while he rose over her.

And like that, with a single heated look he could reduce her to a wanton creature of love and need. Their hands moving even before either one could think to do so, clothing finding its way shed and then forgotten as flesh met flesh and she lost herself to the sound of the birds calling out to each other in their own mating cries, while the scent of pine rose heavy in the air around them, and the spicy scent of herbs tickled her nose. His name on her lips as they spoke not a single word but oh..those eyes, had said everything she'd ever needed to hear.

And then like that..with a single choked sob brown eyes flew open once more, and gazed not up at the man who has just been hovering above her, and who's body she could have sworn she just held while light danced across both their skin…

But the pale cream color of her own bedroom ceiling, the scent of pine, herbs and the sound of birds long faded.

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><p>AN: There wont be much in the way of speaking or dialog while we visit the memories. Dialog will mostly be kept to the woken world, and even then more towards the ending chapters.


	3. Blue

Disclaimer: Nope, still hasn't changed.

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><p>The sob still held in check at the back of her throat, her eyes wildly scanning the room for the man she would have sworn was just with her, her eyes coming to land back on the single window of her room. It was brighter outside, warmer, then when she'd last been awake and seen the still dark predawn sky. Her breath once a little panicked came in much slower as her mind caught up with itself and she shook the last lingered dredges of the dream off.<p>

Yes, of course it had only been a dream. She was becoming such a ninny in her old age,to be taken by such a thing. She'd dreamed of that time so long ago often enough and she'd always recalled them like bitter-sweet chocolate. So why had this last one felt so much more real?

Sighing faintly as her breath once more came and went with measured and genital puffs of air she continued to gaze out the window, watching her lace curtains dance as the sun warmed breeze slipped through. The stirring warmth on her face made her smile as a white cloud seemed to drift past that pane of glass, standing out so much at odds against that blue blue…sky.

Blue. She'd loved that color ever since she'd been a little girl. And that shade of blue always brought to mind the times of summer. Time spent with her parents before she'd gotten her Hogwarts letter, the trips they used to take to some new exotic land her father had a whim to visit.

That..blue. That..color. The same blue as the jumper she'd worn during that absolutely horrible awful year her and her two friends had spent in hiding. That.. year they had gone on that hunt for those Merlin cursed dam Horcruxs in order to defeat the greatest threat to their lives once and for all!

The same jumper he had given her their last night together,the one just before the wedding and the night the three of them had fled, the one she'd worn the night He'd found them. The same one she'd never been able to ever wash clean again no matter what spell or magic she used, she'd never been able to remove that faint tint of copper brown that…

Closing her eyes against the color of the sky outside that so reminded her of summer, she felt her eyes pricked against the first rush of tears that ran down her cheeks. And once more she felt herself fall and then dreamt.

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><p>AN: And no I can't recall exactly what color the jumper she was wearing was, but I'm just going to assume she had more then one, and the one she cherished the most had been a gift from the man she loved.

The chapters will also vary in the number of words. Sorry if some of them seem shorter then others, but I'll try to keep at least the dreams longer.


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